Wrestler of the (4/21) Week — Petey Williams
Our resident philosopher, Jay Shannon, profiles the new X-Division champion, Petey Williams. Petey is this week’s Pro Wrestling Daily: Wrestler of the Week
Canada has produced some of the greatest wrestlers, ever. Names like the Hart Family, Lance Storm, Chris Jericho, Christian Cage, Edge and dozens more have brought pride and honor to the world of pro wrestling. This week’s Pro Wrestling Daily: Wrestler of the Week is another proud son of the Maple Leaf. On Thursday, Petey Williams took advantage of a weakened “Black Machismo” Jay Lethal and dethroned the X-Division champion with the Canadian Destroyet. With that win and Petey’s recent personality change, it is only right that Petey wins this week’s title.
Both sides of the Border
Petey was trained for wrestling by Scott D’Amore. D’Amore is the owner/operator of Border City Wrestling. Numerous other stars got their training with D’Amore’s group, including Chris Sabin, Johnny Devine, Alex Shelley, and Eric Young. Petey took two years to work for D’Amore and other small groups around Ontario and the Northern US. In 2004, Petey was contacted by Scott D’Amore about helping TNA with their international team competitions.
The Maple Leaf Militia
TNA had set up a battle between US, Japanese, Mexican and Canadian stars. The World Cup of Wrestling needed a new captain after the departure of Teddy Hart. Petey was brought in to replace Hart. While Team Canada lost the 2004 World Cup, Petey showed himself to be a fantastic talent. His finisher, The Canadian Destroyer, was and is one of the most impressive moves in wrestling. It is a sunset flip piledriver that disorients the opponent as it slams their head into the mat.
After the World Cup, Team Canada began their domination of TNA. Petey survived a Gauntlet Match to claim his first X-Division title. Petey held the title for just over five months, until being defeated by A.J. Styles. Petey competed as both a singles star and as a tag team partner to various Team Canada members. He was usually partnered with Eric Young. After the 2006 World Cup, Jim Cornette forced Team Canada to disband. Petey began to focus completely on the X-Division championship. He had several opportunities but couldn’t regain the title. Petey needed a new look.
Maple Leaf Muscle
Petey was still a heel after the break-up of Team Canada. LAX was in the middle of their anti-American campaign, at the time. They invited Petey to burn a US flag in the middle of the Impact Zone. Petey refused and began a nasty feud with the Latinos. Once that angle played out, Petey worked a feud against his former Team Canada teammate, Robert Roode. Williams came to the aid of Eric Young, who had been under contract to Roode’s organization. After the feud, Williams disappeared for a well-deserved break.
Williams, according to the storyline, had gone back to Canada to compete in bodybuilding competitions. Williams began to refer to himself as “Maple Leaf Muscle”, which was the name of the bodybuilding competition that Petey was supposed to have won. Petey came to the attention of Scott Steiner following the Turning Point debacle known as Feast or Fired.
At Turning Point, there were four briefcases. One case held a contract for a World title match, another held an X-Division title match contract and a third held a World Tag Team title contract. The fourth case held a pink slip. Christopher Daniels got the termination slip (and then showed back up as Curry Man). Petey had originally won the X-Division title shot, but Scott Steiner changed cases with Petey and gave Petey the World title shot. A brief feud between the two ended when Scott won both cases.
Little Petey Pump
After their feud, Scott took Petey under his wing to turn him into a new man. Over several weeks, Scott used various torture methods to program Petey to follow Scott’s mindset. The final torture was to remove Petey’s ponytail. Scott then shaved Petey’s head and inducted him as a member of The Freak Club. Scott then renamed Petey Little Petey Pump, which was a tribute to his own Big Poppa Pump nickname.
Scott also gave the X-Division title shot briefcase to Petey WIlliams. Petey lost in the X-Scape match at Lockdown 2008, but he had a back-up plan. After Jay Lethal defeated Johnny Devine on Impact, Petey rushed to the ring and bashed Jay in the head with the metal briefcase. Petey then drove Jay’s head into the metal case with a Tornado DDT. Petey then demanded his X-Division title shot, immediately. Petey then used the Canadian Destroyer to end Jay’s title reign and garner his second X-Division title.
In Conclusion:
Petey Williams has had decent success in his six year career. He’s held titles in TNA and Border City. He’s also made appearances at the Super 8 tournament, which he won in 2005. He’s even made an appearance in Ring of Honor. Others have tried to duplicate his Sunset Driver finisher, but no one has been able to get the same results as Petey.
Only time will tell if Petey will migrate to WWE. With no Crusierweight division, Petey might get lost in the mid-card shuffle. In TNA, Petey is climbing his way to the top of pack. He could quickly become a World title holder within the next few months. Petey is a great wrestler and he deserves nothing but praise. He also deserves this week’s Pro Wrestling Daily: Wrestler of the Week.
– Jay Shannon
JayofPWD@SBCGlobal.net
(4/21/08)
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